Count your calories, cut them down to around 1200-1500 a day.
Drink a LOT of water every day.
Exercise at least 30 minutes each day.
Sure exercising can seem boring, but I'm sure you can find something that you wouldn't mind doing for a little while each day. Also, try being more active with your life. Park at the back of the parking lot and enjoy the walk to the store, take the stairs instead of the lift etc.

If you can not find anything you enjoy doing for exercise, grab your ipod/discman/walkman or anything you could listen to and head for a brisk walk, maybe a bit of a jog around your neighbourhood. If you have nothing to listen to whilst exercising, you can have some alone time with your thoughts etc. I'm sure you can manage to get some exercising in each day.

Best of luck for the both of you, I know you girls can do it! DON'T give up and BE persistant!!

First, stop drinking sugary drinks like soda, sports drinks, etc. You can drink a LOT of empty calories that way, considering 1 can of Coke has about 160-200 calories. Juice is OK but limit it to one 8 oz. glass daily.

Try to up your water intake. I know water is boring to drink but besides it being good for you, it has 0 calories. I find if I keep a glass of water by me while I'm at the computer, I will drink it without even paying attention. Add lemon, lime, orange slices, or green apple slices to water to flavor it. If you miss the carbonation, try drinking plain carbonated mineral water (and adding fruit to it). Diet soda is acceptable, but try not to go overboard--i.e., drinking 6 cans of diet soda in one day = not good for you. Also, if I get the munchies, I find that first making and drinking a cup of hot tea or coffee (green tea has great health benefits for you) and drinking it often takes the edge off the munchies.

Any foods you binge on--stop buying them completely, unless maybe you binge on celery or something. I had to completely stop buying chocolate because I find I cannot control myself and will eat the entire bag of hersheys miniatures or whatever. And on special occasions, be sure to tell people either no chocolate/dessert/ or severely limit it. For example, I had my anniversary recently and told my hubby some chocolate was OK but to buy the smallest box, so I got a little box with like 5 chocolates in it. Same goes for ice cream, chips, cookies anything you eat too much of. Stop eating in front of the TV. You do not want to associate food with comfort.

Buy healthy snacks and foods--fruits and veggies, fat-free yogurt, fat-free or part-skim cheese. I find cutting up veggies into bite-sized pieces right after buying them to make them convenient to snack on helps a lot. Be sure to eat a good breakfast and get enough protein. Skipping breakfast is one of the worst diet mistakes you can make.

Begin experimenting with recipes. For example, I found online a recipe for tofu lasgna and I cooked it--not only is it low in calories and fat (less than 300 calories/serving) but it is so tasty you don't really notice you are not eating real lasgna. Now, I try to cook low-fat vegetarian recipes a couple times a week. Not only are they good for you, they are usually a bit cheaper due to not having to buy meat cuts and many of them have ingredients like kidney or black beans which are excellent sources of protein and fiber.

Exercise is essential. Truly, I agree with the previous poster's suggestion. Buy an MP3 player (or if you can't afford it, use a walkman, disc man). You can find some basic MP3 players relatively cheap (under $100), and anyway, the investment for your health is worth it. Put only songs you love to listen to/sing to on the player (or make a similar mix tape or cd or your walkman/discman). Start walking. If it is too hot outside, like now, drive to a mall if there is one near you and walk there. Park at the back of store lots. Join a gym. Right now, I'm unfortunately doing exercise tapes because it is so hot outside. The key is--exercise daily (shoot for 45 minutes to 1 hour). If nothing else, turn on the TV and just walk in place in front of it while watching a show or dvd. Get moving. Also, you should try to incorporate a little light weight lifting into your routine--either at a gym or by some dumbbells.

Now, it's not good to weigh yourself too often, but I find weighing myself daily (at the same time) helps me stay on track, no guessing what my weight is. Some choose to weigh weekly. The key is to weigh regularly so that you know your weight. It is best to weigh first thing in the morning, after using the bathroom, before you eat or drink anything.

thanks guys, that's good advise. i need portion control. i eat all the right foods (with a few exceptions) but i eat way too much of them. i will start measuring my food and recording the amount of calories in what it eat, because i honestly have no idea how many calories i am taking in. wish me luck, i will keep you posted. please try to encourage me so i don't get discouraged and give up! thanks